PETALING JAYA: PKR’s Rafizi Ramli wanted to be found guilty of breaching the Official Secrets Act (OSA) and be imprisoned in order to emerge as a political martyr.

“He tried a cheap stunt for personal political gain, but he knowingly committed a serious crime in doing so.

“It is right that he pays the price and he has only himself to blame,” BN strategic communications director Abdul Rahman Dahlan said in a brief statement.

Rahman, who is also a minister in the prime minister’s department, was commenting on news reports that the Pandan lawmaker had been sentenced to 18 months’ jail over two charges of leaking a classified 1MDB audit report.

The court, however, has granted Rafizi’s application for a stay of execution pending his appeal.

The PKR secretary-general, Rahman added, has made a career out of slandering opponents without conducting due diligence and this was in total disregard for the law of the land.

Rahman went on to remind the people that Rafizi had been repeatedly warned that he would be breaching the OSA if he disclosed any part of the report, but chose to do so anyway.

No country, the Kota Belud lawmaker said, can operate with people deliberately breaking the law and being allowed to get away with it.

“Does Rafizi think that he is above the law? That the law applies to his constituents but not to him?” – FMT